Evanston, Ill.-based Endeavor Health is in the midst of executing a $181 million expansion plan. An integral part of which is integrating its newly launched Endeavor Health Cancer Institute across the nine-hospital system.

At the helm of this integration are Ted James, MD, system physician executive of the Endeavor Health Cancer Institute, and Gabrielle Cummings, president of Evanston Hospital and NorthShore Hospitals and lead for the cancer service line.

Together they are guiding the Cancer Institute’s development, which includes infrastructure investments, care standardization and building a precision medicine platform.

They spoke with Becker’s about where cancer care fits into Endeavor’s larger expansion plans, and how the “institute model” will transform cancer care access for the system’s communities.

Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Question: What specific patient needs or care gaps are driving Endeavor Health’s investment in cancer care and the establishment of the Cancer Institute?

Gabrielle Cummings: Our current cancer facilities span geography from the city of Chicago all the way up to the northern border of the Chicagoland area. We have medical group offices where our oncology physicians practice sprinkled about that whole market. We have a really good, strong foothold in the Lake County, northern Chicago geography, but we see a strong opportunity to provide cancer care in the Chicago city center that we didn’t have before we partnered with Swedish Hospital. We know that there are patients in our backyard — literally, the backyard of Swedish — that have to make decisions about where to go for cancer care. “Do I drive downtown or can I just drive around the corner?” Our goal is for them to get cancer care that’s closest to home.

We have identified three growth areas for all segments of our organization in the Arlington Heights and Elmhurst communities and with Swedish Hospital in Chicago. We have made strategic decisions to invest and expand our cancer services in those areas because we know the communities are growing and that there’s a need.

Dr. Ted James: It’s kind of like what’s first, the chicken or the egg. The philosophy, the strategy behind all this, from our perspective, it’s really an investment in the future of cancer care. We’re seeing such an incredible rise in the incidence as well as the complexity of cancer care. Precision medicine, immunotherapy, supportive care, all really require a more nuanced and coordinated, resource-intensive approach. By expanding and relying on our infrastructure, we’re actually preparing to meet those needs more proactively, to make sure that the patients have seamless, multidisciplinary care within their own communities.

There is a growing demand for access to comprehensive cancer services, especially in areas where there may be more vulnerabilities because of socioeconomic factors. But really across all geographies and all groups, we’re seeing this demand for access, really a requirement for access and for timely, comprehensive care. That’s what’s driving these strategic moves to make sure that we’re able to meet those needs for our patients so we can deliver world-class care locally at their home.

Q: What operational or logistical challenges have come with launching multiple simultaneous construction projects, and how are you managing those?

TJ: Any kind of complex change initiative is going to have potential challenges, because change is hard and transformation is harder.

But the way you approach it can shape the success, and the way that we’re approaching this is in two ways. One, we’re approaching this in a phased type of initiative so that we can handle and manage change incrementally as we go along.

Two, which I think really drives success in this area, we have a consistent vision that’s communicated and been adopted with all the stakeholders. We have a shared model of multidisciplinary, patient-centered care that aligns with our systemwide goals. That unified vision of delivering high-quality cancer care consistently across Endeavor is what’s helping overcome some of the challenges and really turn this into a great opportunity.

GC: There are a lot of challenges, but being an operator, that’s what we do. We know that with every project of this magnitude, we have to balance challenges. One of the challenges we often manage and balance is working with our city, federal and local state elected officials to help explain the “why.”

We have to go in front of the state licensing board or meet with local communities to explain why a new building may obstruct their view, for example. But those challenges are coupled with the importance of building and having strong community relationships in advance of making change.

Fortunately, all the healthcare executives at Endeavor are very passionate and find it very important to have strong relationships with our elected officials and our community, so when we have to do those challenges, they are not as dynamic as they would be if we’re picking up the phone for the first time.

Another challenge and nuance we have to balance: There’s a lot going on at the federal government level with reimbursement and the impact on financial progress. And we’re making some really large financial investments in our organization. We are taking a calculated leap of faith to invest in infrastructure knowing that it’s going to provide a positive return for the patients that we’re privileged to serve and for the community.

Q: How do you see these capital projects enhancing collaboration between departments and improving the patient experience throughout the continuum of cancer care?

TJ: We’re looking at it as more than just a space expansion. It’s really a way to support high-quality cancer care. Investing in infrastructure is going to allow our teams to collaborate, to coordinate with each other and around the patient, to enhance advanced therapies, to offer patients clinical trials, and really to create a setting that supports clinical excellence and whole-patient care.

We’re making sure that we’re providing the support that’s going to be needed to address high-volume cancer care, breast, prostate, lung and colorectal. We are looking into making sure that we have programs to specifically address different patient needs, such as early onset cancer and patients of younger ages, making sure that we have a way to grow and build on our precision oncology program so we can truly offer tailored therapy to patients based on their specific genomics and other risk factors. These are the things that are going to be shaping the future of cancer care, and these are the things that we need to be making investments in.

Q: What role does the Endeavor Health Cancer Institute care model play in the system’s expansion plans?

GC: We spent last year planning and laying the foundation of our Cancer Institute, which we just launched in January. We have nine hospitals, we have 27,000 employees, but we believe that the standard of care that we create should be consistent across the entire system.

We are early in the journey but we are on the path. Our goal is to have one standard across the system, but we are still in the process of making the pie, which is why Dr. James is here.

Cancer is the newest institute, but we have a Neuroscience Institute, an Ortho Institute and a Cardiovascular Institute. The model has worked really well, so we’re replicating it for cancer. It elevates quality of care and outcomes. It makes a better patient experience and our employees enjoy it, too.

TJ: That’s a really important differentiation as well, because other systems operate on more of a hub-and-spoke model where they centralize a lot of experiences, maybe having spokes that really act as funnels back to a central area. The institute model, I think, provides more for patients and allows them to get that level of care more locally and with better convenience and with all the added benefits.

Q: What excites you most about these expansions?

TJ: What gives me goosebumps is being part of designing care environments and care systems that truly match the expertise and compassion that our teams bring every day. That’s very rewarding for me, knowing that patients are going to get advanced and well-coordinated care that reflects the dignity and quality that they deserve. To me, there’s no greater reward than that.

The other thing that is exciting about what we’re doing here in Endeavor — other than the institute model — is bring together the best of traditional academic medical centers and high-quality community centers. It allows us to provide a service and care to patients that you may not find in other organizations. We really have the best of both worlds in that regard.

GC: We have an amazing academic affiliate at the University of Chicago, where all of the residents and fellows come to the Endeavor Health locations to get their training. To have that large academic medical center connection to our community hospitals really elevates and amplifies the care we provide, as well as attracts outstanding clinical leaders to provide great care.

We’ve been ranked as one of the highest research institutes in the state of Illinois. And that infuses the organization with new knowledge and perspectives, so it gets very exciting in that regard. We’re constantly iterating, constantly finding new ways of doing things and transforming care. And that journey is never-ending, right? There’s always going to be a better way until we eventually cure the disease. That’s an exciting journey to be on.

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